How did it get so bad?

When I
accepted the position as your Superintendent last year, I toured
the district’s buildings and witnessed their poor condition. The condition of
the aging buildings demanded an emphasis on long-range facility planning.
Early on, I wondered
how it got this bad. Recently, I posted many pictures of the poor condition of
our buildings. In response, several community
members have asked me the same question.
(See the pictures here)
My analysis of
past practice has revealed that, since 1996, your superintendents and school
boards have been severely limited in their ability to even maintain the district's aging buildings.
I offer the
following to help clarify the limitation the district has faced
over the past 18 years. If you wish to
discuss this further, please contact me.
Please come
and take the tour of Turner Junior High I am giving each Thursday at 5:30 pm.
Everyone needs to see the reality of the building's condition. I will answer any questions you have
regarding the limitations the school district has faced over the past 18 years.
- Steve
Ptacek, Superintendent JSD117

How most schools operate

One of the largest sources of revenue for school districts is the local property tax. All districts prepare an annual tax levy that determines the local property tax rate. It is also routine for schools to collect additional funds through the sale of bonds. The payment on many of these bonds is added to the local property tax bill. Many of these bonds, including Life Safety bonds, do not require a referendum. In most school districts, Life Safety bonds are used to pay for building improvements listed as “health/life safety” needs. Once an improvement plan, developed with the district’s architect, has been approved by the Regional Superintendent of Schools, the district can sell Life Safety bonds to be paid with an additional tax levy. This process has even been used to pay for new facilities in some districts. Basically, most school districts add additional money to the regular tax bill to pay for needed improvements. This is how most districts help keep their facilities maintained. However, tax capped districts are limited in their ability to sell non-referendum bonds.

the tax cap limitation

Tax capped districts can continue to issue non-referendum
bonds BUT are limited to the amount of non-referendum bonds the district had
outstanding when the tax cap was passed.
This new dollar amount is called the Debt Service Extension Base (DSEB). School districts in tax capped counties are limited to this amount of outstanding debt.

How does this Affect jsd 117?

In 1996 tax caps were passed in Morgan County. At that time Jacksonville Public School had no outstanding debt; therefore, the dollar amount the district could raise to address health/life safety needs was established as ZERO!Since 1996, JSD 117 has had to operate without the ability to raise any additional funds to take care of even emergency building needs. In technical terms: JSD117 is tax capped and has no DSEB. The district is in an extremely rare and unique position that has severely limited its ability to even maintain the buildings. This has prevented any possibility of upgrading our facilities to meet the needs of a changing society. Furthermore, the lack of a DSEB has hurt our educational services. For example, last year we had to replace two large air conditioning units at Eisenhower Elementary. The building was not designed with exterior ventilation so it cannot operate in warm weather without air conditioning. (It wasn’t built with many windows that open). The $200,000 we spent to replace the system could have been funded with Life Safety bonds. Since we do not have the ability to sell bonds, the money came directly from our four main operating funds. That money could have been used for improving our educational services. We could have spent it on extra interventionists to help at-risk students, technology upgrades to modernize our curriculum, and talented/gifted programs. We could have used it to help fund fine arts and athletics in our elementary schools.This is just one example. Added up, our annual loss to the educational fund is substantial.Edit: I have received emails asking about our choice to air condition Eisenhower. Please understand that Eisenhower was designed to be a climate controlled building. There is not enough window ventilation to allow the building to function without climate control. Eisenhower is built differently than our other buildings.

Summary

For the last 18 years JSD 117 has not been able to raise money available to other districts.

This inability has limited the district’s ability to maintain its facilities.

This has affected the educational services available to our students.

Local Property tax rates

Compared to the 58 closest Illinois K-12 school districts, Jacksonville School District 117 ranks 32nd in property tax rates. (Highest rate ranked #1). Regionally, we are in the bottom half of local property tax rates. (Click on the chart to enlarge.)

State construction grant money

JSD 117 was awarded the School Construction Grant for fiscal year 2003 (FY03). The district/community did not start a major construction project and therefore did not get any matching funds from the State. Many other districts on the FY03 list did receive funds. If local money had been raised, JSD 117 would have gotten up to 72% of the construction costs from the state. JSD 117 was moved to the fiscal year 2004 list. To the right is a copy of the state's FY04 priority ranking list. You can see that JSD 117 is underlined. This will help in district get priority ranking if the state ever funds the school construction grant program.While it is possible that, in the future, the state might fund the school construction grant program and reimburse schools on the FY04 list, there is not any guarantee that it will ever fund the program or that it will consider funding the FY04 list.

The only guarantee is that if the state does someday fund the program, JSD 117 will not see any money without locally funding a major project.